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The presidential primary season remains a long way off, but it’s always fun to look at where things stand just for kicks if nothing else.
Let’s focus on the Republicans where former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush leads the pack based on an average of six nationwide polls since April 26 compiled by RealClearPolitics.
Mr. Bush is at 13.2 percent, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, 12.5 percent, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, 12 percent, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, 9.2 percent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 8.7 percent., Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 8.5 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 4.8 percent, billionaire Donald Trump, 4 percent, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 2.7 percent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, 2 percent, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, 1.6 percent, and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, 1.3 percent.
In case you’re following our friend Mr. Santorum, his campaign points out that he’s actually doing a lot better than that because he’s polling at 6 percent in Iowa, whose caucus comes first before any primary. He belatedly won Iowa four years ago after everyone wrote him off and thinks you shouldn’t count him out because of that. He also finished second to Mitt Romney in the overall nominating process, and thinks he can win this time with an emphasis on blue-collar Republicans. Lots of reasons to doubt him, but it’s a game plan anyway.
Winning Iowa would be a start, but Mr. Walker (17 percent), Mr. Paul and Mr. Carson (10 percent each), Mr. Bush and Mr. Huckabee (9 percent each) stand in his way for now, according to the May 25-29 Des Moines Register poll that had Mr. Santorum at 6 percent. Winning Iowa isn’t as important as it used to be anyway. Mr. Santorum won it — a few weeks later after a recuont — and didn’t get nominated. John McCain didn’t win it in 2008 (Mr. Huckabee did with Mr. McCain fourth), and won the nomination.
I won’t spend a lot of time on the Democratic side because former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is so far ahead at this point — nationally by an average of 46.6 points and by 41 points in the Des Moines Register poll – that it hardly matters. The closest competition is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at 12.4 percent nationally and 16 percent in Iowa.
For Scranton buffs, Vice President Joe Biden shows up at 8.3 percent nationally and 8 percent in Iowa right behind Mr. Sanders.
If you’re reading anything into these numbers, don’t. January — when the Iowa caucus kicks things off — is a long way off and nothing is decided.
If you want to believe Mr. Santorum can win the nomination, go ahead.
– BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

■ When Gov. Tom Wolf named Exeter Mayor Cassandra Coleman-Corcoran as his northeast regional director, it meant he snubbed a well-known local Democrat who wanted the job.

Cassandra Coleman-Corcoran

Lackawanna County Recorder of Deeds Evie Rafalko McNulty acknowledged she applied for the post, but was never interviewed for it. For weeks, the local rumor mill had her getting it.

Evie Rafalko McNulty

Mrs. McNulty declined to comment on the snub, though she’s certainly not happy about it.
At 27 years old, Ms. Coleman-Corcoran is an interesting choice. She’s greener than past people who had the job – state Sen. John Blake, who was maybe the best qualified choice ever when Gov. Ed Rendell picked him, former Pike County Commissioner Harry Forbes, Gov. Tom Corbett’s choice, and state Sen. Lisa Baker, who worked for Gov. Tom Ridge.
Yes, Ms. Coleman-Corcoran is young, Lackawanna County Democratic Party chairman Chris Patrick said, but also energetic and a really hard worker. Ms. Coleman-Corcoran organized local events and fundraisers for the Wolf campaign for governor.
“She worked her tail off,” Mr. Patrick said. “Everything was done through her. I’m not taking anything away from Evie but this girl was there every step of the way for Tom Wolf … I don’t know how anybody could knock that choice.”
■ A new poll of voters this week shows state Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s stock has dropped, but not as far as you might think given all the controversy surrounding her.The poll by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning firm, shows her favorability rating at 31 percent favorable/33 percent unfavorable with 36 percent unsure.
The poll also matched her up in a hypothetical contest against U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey next year. Mr. Toomey had 44 percent support, Mrs. Kane, 38 percent with the rest unsure. The poll of 1,042 registered voters between Jan. 15 and 18 has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
I’m not sure why PPP asked now about her Senate chances when any notion of a Senate candidacy has pretty much evaporated. Ms. Kane will likely be busy enough trying to win another four years as attorney general, which she’s already said she’ll try to do.
Considering she’s facing the possibility of criminal charges over leaks of statewide grand jury information, she could easily have done worse in this latest poll. My guess is the news on her missteps and behavior hasn’t gotten around as much it might have because people don’t pay as much attention to state politics and government as they should.
Nonetheless, dissatisfaction with her is slowly creeping into the populace at large.
Last June, the same pollster had her at 27 percent favorable and unfavorable with 46 percent unsure, and she led Mr. Toomey 42 percent to 40 percent. So her favorables and unfavorables have crept up with the favorables lower than the unfavorables now, but when you look at the the 36 percent of voters still unsure what to make of her, there are clearly still lots of people out there willing to be convinced she’s okay.
It’s probably why she has former Clinton crisis manager Lanny Davis mounting an aggressive public relations campaign defending her behavior. She denies doing anything wrong, and Mr. Davis is trying to blame the attacks on her on “men with grudges” and a “railroad train” grand jury investigation, whose legitimacy she is challenging before the state Supreme Court.
She’s already succeeded in getting the Supreme Court to halt any further investigation of her by Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman, who was given a grand jury presentment that recommend perjury and other charges against her.
The court said it had to review her challenge first. Ms. Kane is claiming only the attorney general can appoint a special prosecutor, not the Supreme Court, which appointed special prosecutor Thomas Carluccio to look into whether she illegally leaked grand jury information in a 2009 Philadelphia case.
■ The state Republican Party just announced former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as its 2015 Lincoln Day dinner speaker.
The dinner is Jan. 30 at the Harrisburg Hilton.– BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

Nothing in the new Mercyhurst University poll says Pennsylvania will go for the Republican presidential candidate in 2016.
It’s way early, of course, but voters still prefer Hillary, Hillary, Hillary and the guy who occasionally refers to himself as Joey.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Vice President Joseph R. Biden, both Democrats, are the only candidates of either party whose favorability ratings far exceed their unfavorables.
Almost three in five voters (57 percent) have a somewhat or strongly favorable opinion about the woman whose father, Hugh Rodham, grew up in Scranton. Of course, she also has among the highest unfavorables with more than two in five voters (42 percent) feeling somewhat or strongly unfavorable about her. Only 1 percent had no opinion.
Yep, voters seem to have well-formed opinions about Mrs. Clinton because she’s been around so long.
Same goes for Mr. Biden, who spent his first 10 years in Scranton and still feels warmly about the city, and stood about the same as Mrs. Clinton (55 percent favorable, 42 percent unfavorable).
On the Republican side, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush registers best with a favorable/unfavorable rating of 42 percent/48 percent. Next up, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (40 percent favorable/43 percent unfavorable) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (40 percent favorable/47 percent unfavorable). Then, it’s a big dropoff.
— U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, 34 percent favorable, 35 percent unfavorable.
— Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, 32 percent favorable, 36 percent unfavorable.
— Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, 28 percent favorable, 27 percent unfavorable.
— Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 24 percent favorable, 38 percent unfavorable.
— Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, 18 percent favorable, 16 percent unfavorable.
— Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, 18 percent favorable, 35 percent unfavorable.
Joseph M. Morris, Ph.D., director of the Mercyhurst Center for Applied Politics, which did the poll, said the Democrats’ stronger numbers likely reflect their higher national profile.
“You can’t necessarily say that with regard to potential Republican candidates,” Dr. Morris said. “The closest they have is Jeb Bush and, as you see, Jeb Bush is doing better than the rest of them in Pennsylvania … The recognition among the Republican candidates is still fairly low.”
He means that, except for Mr. Santorum, Mr. Bush and Mr. Christie, a lot of people don’t know the other Republican candidates, though Mr. Cruz’s numbers suggest familiarity and dislike.
Naturally, these numbers mean little because it’s so early. Mainly, the numbers mean the Republicans have a lot of work to do to have any chance at winning the state for the first time since George H.W. Bush in 1988.
The poll also didn’t include two potential Republican challengers — former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who made it clear while the poll was underway that he’s seriously thinking about a third run for president, and South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who announced Sunday that he’s exploring a bid.
Finally, can anybody guess who said this in the last week?
“Under President Obama the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse and there are more people in poverty in American than ever before.”
When I read it, it made me laugh out loud.
— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

– Penn State board member Keith Eckel says he doesn’t believe Gov. Tom Corbett, also a board member, could have done anything to let fellow board members know about the grand jury child-sex abuse investigation into former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
“Absolutely not,” Mr. Eckel said in a recent interview. “I’m totally OK with that.”
Mr. Eckel, the former Pennsylvania Farm Bureau chief who was chairman of Mr. Corbett’s agriculture transition team, said the governor took a lot of heat about his proposed budget cuts for Penn State earlier this year all the while knowing about the investigation.
“I can’t imagine how difficult it had to be for Gov. Corbett to have this knowledge and to go through the criticism that he did through the budgetary process,” Mr.Eckel said.
“That had to be very difficult for him … He knew this (about Mr. Sandusky), he was being criticized … He had a responsibility, as the former attorney general, not to undercut the grand jury’s work or his successor’s work.”
Mr. Corbett gained a seat on the university board of trustees when he became governor in January and with that gained a responsibility to the school beyond the governor’s office. He and his spokesman argue he could not say anything because of the secrecy rules surrounding investigating grand juries.
– Former state Rep. Sam Rohrer got clobbered in the Republican primary for governor last year by Attorney General Tom Corbett, who later won the job, but Mr. Rohrer is looking a whole lot better for the new job he’s seeking.
He announced Monday that he will seek the party nomination for the United States Senate seat occupied at the moment by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.
Public Policy Polling, a Democratic leaning polling firm, found Mr. Rohrer on top of the huge pack of Republican candidates.
He led the field with the backing of 25 percent of 400 Republican voters surveyed by the firm between Thursday and Sunday. Next was Tim Burns, 15 percent, Tom Smith, 3 percent, Laureen Cummings of Old Forge, 2 percent, 1 percent each for John Vernon and Steve Welch, and 0 percent for Marc Scaringi.
PPP says Mr. Rohrer’s lead is mostly because he’s better known than the others, though his name ID isn’t that great. Only 25 percent had formed an opinion of him.
More than half of Republican voters (51 percent) said they are undecided or plan to vote for someone else.
“This is very much a contest in its embryonic stage,” PPP wrote in a memo.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
– PPP also polled the state in the Republican presidential race, and found quite a surprise: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich dominating.
Mr. Gingrich had 32 percent support, Herman Cain, 15 percent, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, 12 percent, Ron Paul, 9 percent, Michele Bachmann, 5 percent, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman, 3 percent, and Gary Johnson, 0 percent.
In Pennsylvania, Mr. Gingrich was the second choice of 49 percent of Mr. Cain’s voters to 10 percent for Mr. Romney.
– BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

New polls by Quinnipiac University released today keep adding to the growing evidence that Republicans’ best chance of beating President Barack Obama next year is nominating former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
The university’s swing state polls in three states — Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania — show Mr. Obama barely leading or trailing Mr. Romney, but significantly ahead of former pizza company executive Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
In Pennsylvania, it’s Mr. Obama, 44 percent, Mr. Romney, 43 percent. Mr. Obama leads Mr. Cain and Mr. Gingrich, 48 percent to 38 percent; and Mr. Perry 47 percent to 38 percent.
As in a recent Franklin & Marshall College poll, more than half of voters (52 percent) disapprove of the job Mr. Obama is doing and half (50 percent) say he does not deserve reelection.
The surveys were conducted between Halloween and Monday.
In Pennsylvania, poll takers talked to 1,436 voters, giving the poll a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
In Florida, Mr. Romney led Mr. Obama, 45 percent to 42 percent, but the president led Mr. Cain 45 percent to 41 percent; Mr. Gingrich, 45 percent to 42 percent; and Mr. Perry, 46 percent to 40 percent. That poll was of 1,185 voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
In Ohio, Mr. Obama was at 45 percent to Mr. Romney’s 42 percent, and the president topped Mr. Cain 48 percent to 38 percent; Mr. Gingrich, 49 percent to 37 percent; and Mr. Perry, 48 percent to 36 percent.
The survey asked the opinions of 1,312 Ohio voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
– BORYS KRAWCZENIUK

Stay up to date on Northeastern Pennsylvania politics with Times-Tribune politics reporter Borys Krawczeniuk (pronounced CROUCH-enyook, that's why we just call him "Borys"). The Borys Blog brings you the news, substantiated gossip, insight and intrigue of the region's unique brand of politics.